Keg handling device for lift trucks



June 26, 1951 R. A. HAWKINSON KEG HANDLING DEVICE FOR LIFT mucxs 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 6, 1948 INVENTOR. ROY A. HAWKI NSON. a WW June26, 1951 R. A. HAWKINSON KEG HANDLING DEVICE FOR LIFT TRUCKS 2Sheets-Sheef 2 Filed Oct. 6, 1948 INVENTOR. ROY A. HAWKINSON. fig WATTORNEYS.

Patented June 26, 1951 2,558,216 KEG HANDLING DEVICE FOR LIFT TRUCKS RoyA. Hawkinson, Chicago, 111., assignor to Republic Steel Corporation,Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of New Jersey Application October 6,1948, Serial No. 53,088

7 Claims. E

This invention relates generally to article-handling devices and moreparticularly to apparatus for lifting and transporting kegs and thelike.

Lifting and transporting vehicles have been provided with devices ofvarious sorts for handling many different articles but so far as I knowonly a small number of such devices has been devised for handling kegsand other articles of similar shape, and such devices have beencomplicated, expensive to construct and cumbersome and awkward tooperate. The present invention provides a simple, inexpensive and yethighly effective and easy to operate device for lifting and transportingkegs and articles of similar shapes, which device depends upon thecompressive strengths and not on the tensile strengths of the kegs.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of one form of apparatus embodying thepresent invention and showing the manner of its association with aconventional load-lifting and transporting vehicle;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the lifting device showninfull lines inFig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a front end elevational view of the lifting device of Figs. 1and 2.

In Fig. 1 the dotted lines indicate a conventional load-lifting andtransporting vehicle comprising a vertically movable, load-carryingmemher I and a horizontally reciprocable pusher 2 which is normally usedto push a load off forks of the load-carrying member but in thisinstance is used to pull the lifting rack and articles to be liftedtoward the vehicle.

The vertically. movable load-carrying member I has a plurality ofhorizontal wedge devices W attached to the front side thereof near itslower end, each such device .comprising a housing 3 and a wedge block 4which is slidably movable in the housing and preferably is urgedforwardly by a compressed spring in the housing back of the block. Eachblock 4 has its front surface 5 inclined upwardly and rearwardly towardthe vehicle to correspond generally to the shape of the lower sides ofthe kegs or similar articles to be lifted. The blocks 4 may be made ofwood or other suitable non-metallic material, but preferably are made ofsteel or other suitable metal.

A rack R cooperates with the wedge devices W to press a plurality ofkegs therebetween with force enough to permit the lifting andtransporting of the kegs. This rack comprises two vertically spacedhorizontal bands I which are U- shaped in plan view and are connectedtogether by similar horizontal strips ll disposed adjacent and parallelto load-carrying member I of the vehicle. The horizontal strips III areconnected together by vertical strips I 2 and bands !3 connect the sideportions of top strip If! and are positioned and shaped to extend overthe tops of kegs withinthe rack and close enough thereto to preventsubstantial tilting of such kegs while they are being lifted ortransported in the rack. The strips [0, II and I2 and bands is arepreferably made of steel.

The rack is provided along the inner side of its front end with aplurality of inwardly extending wedge shaped projections [5 having rearsurfaces inclined upwardly and forwardly to correspond generally to theside surfaces of the kegs near their lower ends. Rearwardly extendingfiller blocks l6 are attached to the rack near its upper edge along thefront end thereof and have their rear surfaces curved to correspond tothe curvature of the portion of the keg surface with which they maycontact.

It will be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that the illustrated and justdescribed apparatus is suited to the lifting of six kegs. To that endthe loadlifting member I is provided with three Wedge devices W, each toengage against a keg aligned therewith with the inclined surface 5thereof en-F gaging with the upwardly inclined lower side surface of itskeg. Similarly, there are three wedges l5 projecting inwardly from thefront end of. the rack and these wedges are also aligned with the rowsof kegs, each to engage the lower inclined surface of its kegs. Also,the front end of the rack carries two filler blocks l6 which arepositioned to extend between adjacent pairs of kegs and have their rearedges curved to conform to and engage the kegs circumferentially. Itwill be understood that two, four or six kegs may be carried by thisdevice, i. e., that one or two of the longitudinal rows of kegs may beomitted but, as will be understood, it is necessary to have at least twokegs engaging, respectively, a wedge surface 5 and the opposite wedge l5and the adjacent block I6 when kegs are to be lifted and transported. Ir

The above described apparatus operates substantially as follows: Kegs tobe lifted and transported are-arranged as shown in Fig. 2. Then thevehicle is brought into position relative to the kegs with theload-carrying member I elevated and the pusher 2 extended outwardly sothat when the load-carrying member R islowered the wedges W fixedthereto will clear the rear sides of the adjacent transverse row of kegswhile the front end of the rack will clear the front sides of the fronttransverse row of kegs. The loadcarrying member I is lowered and thevehicle is moved to bring the fixed wedges W on the loadcarrying memberagainst three adjacent kegs while the rack R moves to a horizontalposition with the front end thereof out of contact with the adjacent rowof kegs. Then the-pusher 2 is pulled back toward the vehicle withresultant rearward movement of the rack. R and engagement of wedges l5and blocks I6 with the adjacent kegs. Continued rearward movement of thepusher pulls the rows of kegs into compressive contact with each otherand binds all the kegs together and against fixed wedges W and I5. Whenthe kegs are thus held in contact with each other and with the wedgeswith sufiicient compressive pressure, the load-carrying member I may belifted thereby lifting the kegs as a unit and the kegs may betransported, and stacked if desired. When the kegs are in the desiredlocation they may be released simply by moving the pusher 2 forwardlywhich moves the wedges l5 and blocks l5 from the kegs and permits thefixed wedges W to be moved out of contact with the kegs. Then theload-carrying member with the fixed wedges and the rack may be liftedclear of the kegs.

It will be understood that the herein illustrated devices may also beused to carry one or more tiers of containers, such as kegs, on top ofthe kegs gripped in rack R between wedges W and 15. One such tier ofkegs would mean that 4, 8 or 12 kegs were so carried. It will also beunderstood that by varying the size of the rack R from one to threetransverse rows of kegs and the like may be transported. In this caseeach such row may consist of one, two or three kegs or the like.Furthermore, objects other than kegs and barrels may be transported bydevices embodying this invention. By varying the shape of wedges W and[5 to correspond to the shape of the object to be transported, objects.having a wide variety of shapes may be handled by this invention.

Although rack R and pusher 2 have been described herein above asseparate devices, they may be integrally connected and considered as oneunit.

While the present invention has been described in conjunction with theillustrated apparatus, it is to be understood that the invention is notto be limited to the specifically illustrated apparatus but is definedin what is claimed:

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a vehicle having a vertically movableload-carrying member and a horizontally movable pusher, apparatus fortransporting kegs comprising a fixed wedge secured to and extendingforwardly horizontally from said member, and a rack to surround a keg tobe transported and having a wedge extending rearwardly from the frontside of the rack toward said fixed wedge, said rack being attached toand movable with said pusher toward said member for exerting compressiveforce on a keg between said opposed wedges suflicient for lifting thekeg and away from said member for releasing the keg.

2. In combination with a vehicle having a vertically movableload-carrying member and a horizontally movable pusher, apparatus fortransporting kegs comprising a plurality of fixed wedges secured to andextending forwardly horizontally from said member, and a rectangularrack to surround a plurality of kegs to be transported and having wedgesextending rearwardly from the front side of the rack toward said fixedwedges, said rack being attached to and movable with said pusher towardsaid member for exerting compressive force on kegs engaging each otherbetween said opposed wedges sufiicient for lifting the kegs and awayfrom said member for releasing the kegs.

3. In combination with a vehicle having a vertically movableload-carrying member and a horizontally movable pusher, apparatus fortransporting kegs comprising a plurality of fixed wedges secured to andextending forwardly horizontally from said member, and a rectangularrack carried by and movable with said pusher for movement toward andaway from said member, said rack comprising a pair of horizontalvertically spaced strips, vertical ties connecting said strips, andwedges extending rearwardly from the front side of the rack, said wedgeshaving surfaces inclined to conform enerally to the lower side surfacesof kegs engaging therewith.

4. In combination with a vehicle having a vertically movableload-carrying member and a horizontally movable pusher, apparatus fortransporting kegs comprising a plurality of fixed wedges secured to andextending forward horizontally from said member and having front facessloping upwardly and backwardly toward said member, and a rectangularrack carried by and movable with said pusher for movement toward andaway from said member, said rack comprising a air of horizontalvertically spaced strips, vertical ties connecting said strips, bandsconnected to the upper horizontal strip at opposite sides of the rackand extending upwardly therefrom to lie over the tops of kegs within therack and horizontal wedges extending inwardly from the front side of therack to engage the lower sides of kegs within the rack.

5. In combination with a vehicle having a vertically movable,load-carrying member and a horizontally movable pusher, apparatus fortransporting kegs comprising a plurality of fixed wedges secured to andextending horizontally forwardly from said member and a lifting rackcarried by and movable with said pusher for movement toward and awayfrom said'member, said rack being generally rectangular in plan view tosurround a plurality of kegs and having wedges along its front endopposed to and extending rearwardly toward said fixed wedges, and fillerblocks projecting rearwardly from the upper front part of the rack, saidrack serving, when placed about a plurality of kegs and moved towardsaid vehicle, to move the filler blocks between adjacent kegs and tomove the rack carried wedges toward the fixed wedges and thereby topress such kegs together and against said wedges with suflicientcompressive force to permit lifting of the kegs by the rack.

6. In combination with a vehicle having averticallymovable,load-carrying member and a horizontally movablepusher, apparatus for transportin kegs comprising a plurality of fixedwedges secured to and extending horizontally forward from said memberand a lifting rack carried by and movable with said pusher for movementtoward and away from said member, said rack being generally rectangularin plan view to surround a plurality of kegs and having rearwardlyextending wedges along its front end to engage with the lower sidesurfaces of kegs within the rack to extend between such kegs, said rackvserving, when placed about a plurality of kegs and moved toward saidvehicle by said pusher, to move the saidblock between adjacent kegs andto move the rack carried wedges toward-the fixed wedges and thereby topress such kegs together and against said wedges with suflicientcompressive force to permit lifting of the kegs by the rack.

7. In combination with a vehicle having a vertically movableload-carrying member and a horizontally movable pusher, apparatus fortransporting kegs comprising a plurality of fixed wedges secured to andextending horizontally forwardly from said member and a lifting rackcarried by and movable with said pusher for movement toward and awayfrom said member, said rack being generally rectangular in plan view tosurround a plurality of kegs and having wedges along the lower part ofits front end opposed to and extending rearwardly toward said fixedwedges, filler blocks projecting rearwardly from the upper part of thefront end, and stay strips attached to the opposite sides of the rack toextend over the tops of kegs therewithin, said rack serving, when placedabout a plurality of kegs and moved toward said vehicle by said pusher,to

6 move the filler blocks into position between adjacent kegs and to movethe rack carried wedges toward the fixed wedges and thereby to presssuch kegs together and against said wedges with sulficient 'force topermit lifting of the kegs by the rack.

ROY A. HAWKINSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 531,948 Judd et al Jan. 1, 18951,165,076 Curtis Dec. 21, 1915 1,608,371 Carroll Nov. 23, 1926 2,138,498McMillan Nov. 29, 1938 2,340,812 Koob Feb. 1, 1944 2,381,858 Austin Aug.14, 1945 2,418,661 Palm Apr. 8, 1947 2,447,300 Williams Aug. 17, 19482,473,410 Bevevino June 14, 1949 2,496,079 Wessman Jan. 31, 19502,528,783 Reinhart et a1 Nov. 7, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number CountryDate 329,996 Germany Dec. 2, 1920

